Ignitive Stars
by w nymph
Summary: Drabble Collection, AU, Spoilers for 108 and onwards - It isn't exactly an instant awakening rather than slowly rising awareness, but it's that duel against the Numbers Hunter that finally tips the scales for good.


So I've been playing with this AU for a few days now, and since it somehow resulted in about 3000 words of drabbles, I suppose I might as well share it. And see if anyone can help me figure out what to do with this all, because I don't even know.

This whole AU just ran away with me. /hideface

There are three parts to it so far, I'll post up the rest sometimes within the next few days.

Enjoy?

**Characters:** Ryoga/Nasch mainly and Rio/Merag sort of  
**Genre:** Gen, Friendship, Angst  
**Rating:** T  
**Warnings:** Spoiiiiilers for 108+  
**Summary:** Drabble/One Shot Series/Collection – It isn't exactly an instant awakening rather than slowly rising awareness, but it's that duel against the Numbers Hunter that finally tips the scales for good.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal.

**- Ignitive Stars -  
- Part 01 -**

It isn't exactly an instant awakening rather than slowly rising awareness – a strange flash of anger upon seeing Yuma's pendant and an even stranger pang of satisfaction when he destroys it, the familiar feeling of the Numbers' power when he battles them (is possessed by them) and how it doesn't take much thought to shift his deck to counter them (as if he's just been waiting for the day to face them) – but it's that duel against the Numbers Hunter that finally tips the scales for good, it's that feeling of shock (of death, like he's known it already once – twice – before that shakes his soul to recognize his true nature because when he awakens there are three things that he knows for sure:

The reason that he's awake again is Yuma.

He is Barian. He is _Nasch_.

And he has absolutely no idea what either of that means to him.

It's not much longer that he pushes himself out of bed – there is not really anything physically wrong with him after all (except that somehow suddenly _everything_ is wrong, he's human, he's Ryoga but he's Nasch and he shouldn't be-) – and rushes the stairs up to Rio's (Merag's) room and being in a room with her automatically makes things a little better, makes the confusion lessen, because at least she's with him (as she's always has been, the voice of reason when his temper was about to get the better of him, the voice of advice and reassurance whenever he had felt doubts in his leadership), and now if she was only awake…

He sighs as he sinks into chair beside her bed and slips his hand into hers; he's never needed her advice more than now, because while some of these new memories slowly settle, while some things are finally starting to _make sense_ (like the Numbers, like that pendant – and Yuma's strange habit of arguing with 'himself' – and he wonders… that Numbers Hunter, is he working on behalf of…?) there are still far too many holes for his liking: why are they human, how had they ended up like this in first place, when Rio wakes up (when, not if, because despite what the doctors say about chances, there is no other option – he knows she'll awaken sooner or later, she has to!) will she remember being Merag too?

His free hand clenches into a fist as he presses his lips together and bows his head, cursing his powerlessness – for all that his memory of being Barian is back, his power is not. There is nothing he can do to speed up Rio's recovery; there is no Over Hundred Number for him to fight the Astral Word's messenger with (because defeating him would be the quickest way to put this conflict to an end, to protect the Barian World like he's sworn to, wouldn't it?), no power at all to defend himself against the influence of the Numbers.

There are too many questions and absolutely no answers to be found, and nothing but the certainty that sooner or later he'll have to face Yuma – the only friend he's made in a long while, the only one who's been truly genuine with him since that time he had been forced out of the National Circuit and Ryoga - _Nasch_ - just shakes his head and laughs at the irony of it all.

Fate is a cruel mistress, indeed.

- TBC -


End file.
